iPhone 7 Release Date: Expected Feature Upgrades over iPhone 6

It's just two months since Apple Inc. launched its flagship smartphone, iPhone 6 along with iPhone 6 Plus but hype on its successor dubbed as the iPhone 7 has started. Speculations on the release date and features of the upcoming device have started though it may be months away before hitting the stores.

It's just two months since Apple Inc. launched its flagship smartphone, iPhone 6 along with iPhone 6 Plus but hype on its successor dubbed as the iPhone 7 has started. Speculations on the release date and features of the upcoming device have started though it may be months away before hitting the stores.

The Cupertino giant is expected to unveil the iPhone 7 in the third quarter of next year at around the same time its predecessor was announced. Nothing is confirmed as of now and Apple is very unlikely to talk about its products but it should release a new device by the time iPhone 6 completes one-year cycle in the smartphone market.

It was reported before the release of the iPhone 6 that its screen would be made of sapphire glass, the second hardest material after diamond, but it never happened. Now, reports are doing the rounds that iPhone 7 screen will be made of this material.

According to a report by Focus Taiwan (via China Economic Weekly), Foxconn Technology Group, the main supplier of Apple's products like iPhones and iPads, has signed a deal with the Zhengzhou city government to build a new factory to produce sapphire glass for upcoming iPhone devices, hinting that the iPhone 7 could come with screen made of the material.

The iPhone 7 is expected to have a chassis made of liquid metal, powered by a quad-core A8 processor and come packed with 256GB internal memory, according to iPhone7update. It is likely to have 14MP main camera and 4MP front snapper. John Gruber had recently said on The Talk Show (via The Tech Block) that the iPhone 7 camera could be a two-lens system with the capability of taking high quality pictures.

On the other hand, the iPhone 6 sports a 4.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen protected by Shatter proof glass and oleophobic coating. It is powered by Apple A8 processor that clocks at 1.4 GHz, runs on iOS 8 (upgradable to iOS 8.1.1) and come packed with 16/64/128 GB internal memory and 1 GB RAM. It also has an 8MP main camera and 1.2MP front snapper, and a non-removable Li-Po 1810 mAh battery with talk time up to 14 hours, 50 hours on music play mood and 250 hours standby time.